The mastermind of Gulshan café attack Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury along with two of his accomplices were killed in a special police operation, 'Hit Strong', at a 'Neo JMB' den at a residential building in Narayanganj on Saturday morning.
The deceased were identified as Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury and his accomplices Iqbal and Manik. Earlier, Iqbal fled during a raid of the joint forces in Dhaka's Kalyanpur, police said.
A joint team from Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit, police headquarters and district police together carried out the "Operation Hit Strong 27".
Tipped off, DMP's CTTC unit unearthed the Neo JMB's den on the third floor of a three-storey building at Paikpara beside Boro Koborsthan around 6:00am and launched the raid on the militant hideout, said Additional Deputy Commissioner of the Bomb Disposal Unit of CTTC, Sanwar.
Police cordoned off the area and evacuated the occupants of the building. Sanwar said they started the preparation around 2:30am and reached Narayanganj at 6:30am.
CTTC team gave the militants till 8:30am to surrender, Sanwar said adding, "Our target was to arrest them alive." However, the militants started destroying all their documents, mobile phones and laptops around 8:30am, he added.
Following this, the CTTC team launched the one-hour long operation, said Sanwar. During the operation, the militants hurled grenades and opened fire on the law enforcers, he added.
After finishing the operation around 9:30am, the CTTC team entered the building when they found the bodies of two militants lying beside the main door of the apartment, Sanwar said.
The law enforcers found the body of Tamim in another room, he said. The CTTC team recovered an AK-22 firearm, a small firearm, several knives, several smashed mobile phones and laptops. They also recovered two live grenades from the flat.
Sanwar said five people rented the apartment two months ago identifying two of them as employees of a pharmaceutical company and another as a banker.
Sensing immediate danger, Tamim and his two aides, started destroying key evidences, instead of surrendering, Sanwar added.
"After taking position around 6:30am, we requested the militants to surrender a few times between 6:30am and 6:45am," Sanwar told journalists.
When they fired shots and started destroying evidence, the law enforcers realized the militants would not surrender, he said.
"In the meantime, they set fire to one of the rooms, broke laptops, mobile phones and destroyed evidence. This prompted us to launch the offensive around 8:45am," Sanwar added.
He said police expected to take the chief alive as there would be much information to gather from him. "The prime objective of our raid was to arrest them alive," the police official said.
It was assumed that they rented the house after the deadly Gulshan attack, Sanwar said. Earlier, DMP had announced a bounty of Tk 20 lakh for information leading to the arrest of Tamim Chowdhury, a Bangladesh-born Canadian citizen.
Tamim's name came up on the list of 10 "missing" suspected terrorists released by the authorities after it emerged that Gulshan café killers and the Sholakia attackers had been reported by their families to police as missing.
International media reports, citing several Islamic State publications, have described him as the coordinator of Middle East-based group's Bangladesh operations.
The Bangladesh authorities, however, maintain that Tamim led the 'Neo-JMB', which emerged after the original Jamaatu-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) had split. They also rule out any connection between the outfit and the Islamic State.
Home Minister Kamal said the 'Tamim Chowdhury chapter ended' with Saturday's raid. "We will be able to nab the rest of the militants soon."
Law enforcers were confirmed about Tamim's death as his photo matched with one of the militants killed during the raid, Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Hoque told journalists after visiting the house in Paikpara area.
"Tamim's photo, which we have, matches completely with one of the dead militants, and it is clear that he must be Tamim Chowdhury," the IGP said. Identities of the two other militants are yet to be ascertained, he added. The militants rented the flat after Eid-ul-Fitr identifying themselves as private service holders, the IGP said.
The IGP said law enforcers gave the militants a scope to surrender but they did not take it. The militants hurled grenades and opened fire at the law enforcers, who, in retaliation, returned the fire.
After a one-hour operation, police entered the house and found three bodies inside, the IGP said.
Meanwhile, in another development, police have picked up the land lord of the house, his wife, three sons and five others for questioning.
Earlier on July 26, nine militants were killed during a special drive of the joint forces in Dhaka's Kalyanpur, ending an overnight standoff that ensued with a raid to hunt down "militant den".
While talking to media, the IGP said, "We waited for a long time, I instructed lawmen to talk to them, if they surrender then we will let them come out with their hands over their heads," he said.
Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury had accompanied the five Holey Artisan Bakery attackers from their Bashundhara flat to Gulshan and left the area after bidding them farewell just before the café siege began around 8:40pm on July 1, says a lead investigator. The five militants, carrying weapons including semi-automatic rifles, grenades and machetes, held diners hostage at the upscale eatery in the diplomatic zone.
The ensuing 11-hour standoff ended after the army-led commandos stormed the café. By the time, the militants had killed 20 hostages, including 17 foreigners, and two policemen in the worst-ever terror incident in the country. The gunmen were killed in the commando drive, codenamed "Operation Thunderbolt."
The investigators have also found Tamim's involvement in the Sholakia attack on the July 7 Eid day that left four people, including two constables, an attacker, and a local woman, dead.
Tamim was also the mentor of the nine militants killed at Kalyanpur on July 26.
He used to frequent their flat at Kalyanpur and have meetings with them, give motivational speeches and guide them on planning militant attacks, according to the statement of a case filed following the police operation named "Storm 26".
The accused in the case, including Tamim, provided the nine militants with financial support, firearms, ammunition and explosives, the statement said, adding that the accused also trained the radicals.
